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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Ralph Lemon's Favorite BAM Moments

Last month, choreographer Ralph Lemon(How Can You Stay..., 2010 Next Wave Festival)stopped by BAM to help us celebrate the release of BAM: The Complete Works. He offered the following as his favorite BAM moments.

1. Gospel at Colonus | Dirs. Bob Telson and Lee Breuer, 1982
Five Blind Boys of Alabama, the Institutional Radio Choir, and a young Morgan Freeman. 'Nuff said.

2. Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard) | Pina Bausch, 1984
The experience made me want to run off to Wuppertal, wherever that was.

4. Birth of a Poet | Dir. Richard Foreman, 1985
The walkouts and shouts of disapproval reminded me of Minneapolis, my hometown at the time, where audiences were known to throw eggs at the avant-garde. (read review)

The Birth of a Poet, Richard Foreman, 1984. Photo: Leo van Velzen

5. New Music AmericaA ten day blowout music festival embedded in the middle of the Next Wave Festival and involving fifteen venues, 100 bands, and composers of all kinds. Seeing the Butthole Surfers in the Opera House was truly amazing.

9. Harvey [Lichtenstein's] Goodbye Party
I remember Harvey dancing, imitating Bill T. Jones. And Lou Reed, looking at all the formality in the audience—the gowns, tuxedos and whatnot—shouted to his band before they began, "turn up the volume!"